Baldur’s Gate 3 does have paid DLC content, but it’s quite small and doesn’t add an awful lot to the player experience. Many players have decided to buy it as a way to tip Larian for their incredible work. However, the decision not to include a lot of expansion content may have been the best choice for the game’s longevity, and shows how the developers truly care for the quality of the content they present to fans.
In BG3’s Patch Updates, Larian Studios Gives Players New Content For Free Instead Of In A Paid DLC
Baldur’s Gate 3 Is A Labor Of Love
Larian has introduced new content into Baldur’s Gate 3 since release through various patch updates, as opposed to through paid DLC. Though a lot of this would make for a great expansion that fans would be more than willing to pay for, especially the 12 new subclasses in Patch 8, Larian instead decides to keep giving fans new features. Baldur’s Gate 3 is already known for its infinite replayability, and with new features being added to the base game, players have all the more reason to come back.
With the game’s massive popularity, official merchandise, and small amount of DLC, Larian won’t be out of money anytime soon, allowing the studio to show its appreciation for fans through small updates and constantly polishing the game. By making new content for any player who has already purchased the game, it’s obvious that Larian continues to work on Baldur’s Gate 3 out of pure love for its creation and its players. BG3 shows that games don’t have to include lots of paid content in order for fans to stay invested in them.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Modding Tools Allow Players To Continuously Create New Content – For Themselves, And The Community
Larian Makes Mods As Accessible As Possible
Originally, more DLC content was actually somewhat planned for Baldur’s Gate 3, but only because the game’s success made the developers feel pressured into creating one. It was canceled because it felt too forced, and wasn’t something they were passionate about creating, unlike the base game. Larian decided it was best to focus on the story it already had, instead of making players pay for content that wasn’t optimized to its full potential. However, fans may still be able to access new content and play new questlines with the help of mods.
Discover what’s coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 next year with Community Update #30: 🎮 Cross-Play 📸 Photo Mode 💫 12 New Subclasses 🪱 Continued Bug Fixing 🔜 Patch 8 Stress Test – January 2025 Read more: https://t.co/HuVZ4buBuD pic.twitter.com/IPErZJXGKU — Baldur’s Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) November 27, 2024
Larian has announced Patch 8 to be the final major update, but are still planning on adding more mod support to the game. With the mod manager that was introduced in Patch 7, and with official modding tools, Larian has tried to make it as easy as possible for those who want to see certain content in the game to be able to see it in their personal playthroughs. With a game as large as Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s impossible to please every fan, so by making mods more viable for players, fans can pick and choose the new content they want.
BG3‘s official modding toolkit is completely free for anyone wanting to try their hand at creating and/or publishing their own content. Larian Studios has a list of recommendations for those new to modding Baldur’s Gate 3.
Pushing fan-made content into public view allows Larian to focus on refining areas of the existing game, as well as other projects that fans may be interested in. Also, the passion put into these fan-made projects makes up for the passion that the developers may have lacked themselves before canceling the initial DLC. It doesn’t look like the love players have for Baldur’s Gate 3 is dying down anytime soon – with mods constantly being developed for the game, and a mod manager accessible from the main menu, fans won’t run out of content for quite some time.
